How to set up spooling for a HP JetDirect interface?

[Burkhard Weeber]

The problem with the HP JetDirect or JetExpress stuff is that it can't really spool.
I also had the problem you discribe and solved it the following way:

1)	Use only ONE UNIX-Box to connect to the HP-MIO
2)	Make the UNIX connect process wait for the last to complete.
	in LINUX you make a printcap entry like this:

hp2|lp2|HP LaserJet on HP JetExpress 500X:\
        :sd=/usr/spool/lp2:\
        :rm=hpjex2:\
        :rp=RAW2:\
        :mx#0:\
        :sf:sh:

	in AIX it's more tricky.

The reason why your old SUN works with this is that it's 515 spooler waits for each job to be completed. This seems to have changed a few years ago, so that 515 assume an UNIX-like spooler on the other hand that can handle and queue up multiple parallel requests.

Burkhard Weeber
C. Haushahn Automationssysteme GmbH & Co. KG
P/O Box 300668
D-70446 Stuttgart
Email: B.Weeber at haushahn-as.de

-----Original Message-----
From: samba at samba.org [mailto:samba at samba.org]On Behalf Of Ole Holm
Nielsen
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 1999 8:59 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: How to set up spooling for a HP JetDirect interface?


Regarding SAMBA printing problems to HP JetDirect:

We use HP printers with the JetDirect network card and 
they work very well.  However, the print spooler on Linux
(RPM lpr-0.35-0.5.2) as well as the one on AIX 4.2.1 have a
problem when the JetDirect card doesn't respond while it
is processing a job:  The AIX print queue hangs, whereas
we find that jobs are lost in the Linux spooler.  Try to
send two large print jobs from Linux to a remote JetDirect,
and you will probably find that the second job vanishes.

As a workaround, we send Linux print to a remote UNIX 
spooler that doesn't loose jobs.  On AIX we restart the
queue from crontab by this undocumented command (from
IBM support):  /usr/bin/qadm -U [queuename]
One UNIX spooler that doesn't have a problem with 
JetDirect's non-responsiveness is the one in an old
SunOS 4.1.3 machine.  I trust that HP-UX will work, too.

> Tulipant-Gergely at dbrt.hu:
> > I've set up Samba and LPRng for HP printers with
> > JetDirect cards. It works for one user at a
> > time. But if the printer is off-line or busy, the
> > samba client does not get an error message, but
> > the job gets lost. :( I would like the print
> > jobs to be spooled on Linux even when there is an
> > active print job or when the printer is off-line.
> > Unfortunately I'm not familiar with lpd.
> 
> Well. When remote printer server does not response,
> lpd spools message. I have not hear that jobs
> are lost althoug we have several  HP printers with
> JetDirect cards.

Ole Holm Nielsen
Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark,
Building 307, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark